1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the technical field of integrated circuit (IC) programming and in-circuit emulation (ICE) and, more particularly, to an in-circuit emulation with a programming function.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional universal device programmer. As shown in FIG. 1, the programmer includes a control logic 105, a memory 110, a transmission interface 115, a peripheral input and output interface 120, a microprocessor 125, a programmer socket 130, a system power supply 135, and a DC/DC converter 140. When an IC 160 is to be programmed, the IC 160 is placed in the programmer socket 130, and a programming code is downloaded from a personal computer 150 to the microprocessor 125 via the transmission interface 115 for being stored in the memory 110. Subsequently, the microprocessor 125 produces a special control signal based on the programming code and executes a programming function on the IC 160 via the programmer socket 130.
The typical programmer uses a general-purpose input-output (GPIO) pin of the microprocessor 125 to simulate and generate timing of control signals. Such a configuration requires the external devices to support and expand the programming capacity so as to increase the hardware cost. In addition, the corresponding firmware design is complicated, and the management and maintenance take much time. Further, such a complicated design has a low integration and cannot be used with the development tools of the microprocessor 125. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved in-circuit emulation system to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.